Mastering Operational Risk, by Tony Blunden and John Thirlwell (published by Financial Times Prentice Hall) is a practical guide to understanding operational risk and how to manage it. The global financial crisis, the Gulf of Mexico oil well disaster and the Icelandic volcano, operational risk goes far beyond operations and process risks to cover all aspects of business risk – human failure, strategic and reputational risks, as well as natural and man made disasters. Mastering Operational Risk includes:
- The business case for operational risk
- Risk and control assessment
- How to use operational risk indicators
- Reporting operational risk
- Modelling and stress-testing operational risk
- Business continuity and insurance
- Managing people risk
- Containing reputational damage
John Thirlwell
Author, Mastering Operational Risk
John Thirlwell, MA, FCIB, FIOR, has worked in financial services in the City of London for over 30 years. He was Chief Risk Officer and a director of an investment bank and, for the last 15 years, has been an executive and non-executive director of a number of banking and insurance firms. He was a director of the British Bankers’ Association where he was responsible for negotiating the operational risk aspects of the Basel Capital Accord and EU Capital Requirements Directive. He founded and chaired the BBA’s Global Operational Loss Database.
He has been chairman of the UK Financial Services and Insurance Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce and has sat on advisory groups on risk and operational risk for the Bank of England, Financial Services Authority, Financial Services Skills Council, Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment and Lloyd’s Market Association.
John is well-known internationally as a speaker and writer on operational risk and on risk management and governance and is a Fellow of the Institute of Operational Risk and of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. He graduated from the University of Oxford and is chairman of trustees of the Bankside Gallery, London.